I looked at some videos and reviews on the NZXT Switch 810. It's a very big case, which I don't like. And it's a bit too expensive for me too and I am trying to cut down on costs at the moment. Also, I don't like the design of him and it's, as you said, the hardcore of hardcore cases....

I just had a really long talk with my brother just now... He is in the computer business, he is like a software bug tester of some sorts at his work. He has a computer engineering degree so I trust his opinion, even if I don't agree with it initially.

He was telling me since this is my 1st foray into a gaming computer, and it's going to built by NCIX rather than self-built, that I am still new to all of this. Even after all those research I have been doing. He is saying to go ahead with a new gaming computer but get medium to high-end computer and not get the best one at the moment. He also was dead against watercooling since it is not mainstream. It is still in the minority and people don't have much experience with them and there are more risks involved in them. He suggested against any type of watercooling, even the pre-filled watercooling systems. The reason he also said this was because I have other priorities in my life such as schooling that I need to do (nursing hopefully), which will need majority of my attention and I won't have time to worry about whether my system is running fine or if the watercooling is working fine, etc.

So, no go on the watercooling, the H100 or the H100i or any of that push/pull thing, for now :/.
Also, no go on the NZXT cases, or full-tower cases. I will be sticking withe Corsair 500R for now since its cheap and a mid-end case with lots of cooling.
Now, I need a good air cooler that will aid me in mild overclocking later down the road AND it is not big friking thing on top of my motherboard, lol. Hope you guys can help me with that.

The problem for me is, that first of all, I want to get a system or computer components that are not the best of the best. Here are my criteria:

- I want my computer to last me for 3 years without any maintenance or upgrade needed since my old computer (current one) lasted me that long.
- I want to only do mild overclocking maybe an year or two down the road, and I specifically don't want to do the advanced type of overclocking. I want only the user-friendly, newbie-friendly overclocking. I want like the push-of-a-button type of overclocking software or whatever. My brother also said majority of the people are not overclocking and it is just starting to gain popularity in gaming.
- I want an aesthetic looking computer overall, if possible since it is going to sit on my new computer desk. So LED fans, good-looking computer case, mesh side panels (for more cooling) is what I am looking for.
- I also want, which is one of the top criteria, actually THE top criteria for me, is that I don't want to spend too much but I want to get computer components that perform as close to the performance I need to run my games and other things. I want 45-60 FPS consistently in ultra settings in games like WoW, D3, SC2 and maybe SWTOR... and maybe down the road, GW2. I am a blizzard fan boy, and I love Blizzard games, so I want to be able to run Blizzard games easily on max/ultra settings. I am someone who likes the aesthetics much more than most people out there. I like WoW for the sole reason that it looks prettier than most games. I don't like RIFT because their graphics just don't sit right with me... I find even SWTOR graphics a bit sterile. I like colourful and exaggerated graphics. So WoW is one game that has that, which I have loved for many many years and will continue to love for many years to come.
Anyway, the main point is, I want 45-60 FPS consistently in WoW, D3, and SC2 AND this should include expansion packs in the next 3 years for these games, hopefully.

LONG story short:
No go on the watercooling, the H100 or the H100i or any of that push/pull thing, for now :/.
Also, no go on the NZXT cases, or full-tower cases. I will be sticking with the Corsair 500R for now since its cheap and a mid-end case with lots of cooling.
Now, I need a good air cooler that will aid me in mild overclocking later down the road AND it is not big friking thing on top of my motherboard, lol.
Hope you guys can help me with that.
AND I need to trim the overall costs a bit if possible... I am FINALLY going to post a somewhat finalized build at the top of this thread in the OP as well as the end of this post... very soon.

EDIT:

Forgot to add something (I always forget to add something, ugh).
My current computer has temperatures of close to 75C-80C when I am playing WoW and SWTOR. If I can get a computer that will be cooler than this with fans mounted everywhere in a case, that would be perfect and no need for watercooling, for now. AND please, no large air coolers if possible... I don't even know if small ones exist but I would prefer a good balance of performance/price/aesthetics if at all possible.

Well I'm only familiar with a few cases, so I didnt have that many ideas. Well nzxt phantom would give you the PP configuration without modding though.

Oh it's alright. No worries . I want just a good price/performance/aesthetic looking case so I am sticking with the Corsair 500R.

That NZXT is on newegg.com not newegg.ca so I cannot price match for NCIX since their policy requires the product to be in a Canadian retailer AND has to be in-stock. The NZXT phantom is out of stock and discontinued on newegg.ca and the NZXT Switch 810 is out of stock/discontinued on newegg.ca as well.

I am not gonna go for watercooling at all, pre-filled or otherwise, since there are too many risks involved, for now. I might buy it for my next build in 3 years time from now... And I would buy a new case by then, which will probably have push/pull as well with it so that would be swell

Oh, my OP is not updated with the new graphics card yet :/. I am planning on going with the Gigabyte 7870 one not 7850. I will also put the prices up soon too in the OP.

I personally like a lot of fans for more cooling, to see how far I can push down the temperature. It will be an interesting experiment of sorts for me with the 10 fans + an aftermarket air cooler (that's not a huge blob) =). I will check out the noctua right now.

I am getting NCIX to build my PC and all the parts are coming from them as well since I don't want to foray into self-building just yet. And I will have peace of mind knowing that experts built it and have done all the cable management and all that. And I can reduce the assembly charge from $75 to $50 since I am not getting any watercooling setup ... I really gotta put an updated list with all the parts and prices... Very soon... Just going to start on it right now.

Have fun with your new build

Well if you're not an extreme overclocker, you shouldn't be looking to having 20 fans in your case. It's rather overkill.

Nowadays you rather look for a big heatsink with a lot of heatpipes.

Your previous build has a 65nm CPU they tend to run a lot warmer than a 22nm cpu (i5 3rd gen) because the transistors are like 3 times smaller. The gpu is 65nm as well and believe me or not, my old HD4850 from Gigabyte I've been running this for 3 years at 100-110° lol. Any 7xxx or 6xx serie they really run a lot quieter and cooler.

I went from the 4850 to a 6xxxx serie from Asus DC2 in Crossfire, I noticed a bunch of performance but were hot cards really. Ive upgraded later to an asus gtx 680 top and I haven't ever seen this card reaching the 60° while gaming even with an OC of 1300MHz on GPU & 7600MHz on VRAM (on stock voltages/power)

I have finally finalized my build :P.
It's in my OP on the 1st page. Give me some input on that

I didn't realize how outdated my current computer is, heh. Good thing, I am finally getting a new computer... Also, do you think my games that I will play on the new computer, will they have that kind of performance that I am hoping for?

Also, still looking into aftermarket air coolers... Just a few more minutes of research and I should have that done.

For the additional case fans, I heard that the original case fans of the 500R are not that good for cooling or are flimsy or noise or something. I don't know if I should just get the computer built for now with the aftermarket cooler but not get case fans for now and add them later down the road... Or should I just outfit them with all the additional case fans now. I am thinking of getting the SP120s quiet edition and the AF120s quiet edition. What do you think? There's also the matter of where to put those fans (intake/outtake) to get a positive pressure in the case for a dust-free case as well as getting the best air cooling inside as possible.

EDIT: I am still updating the OP with the build. Stay tuned, everyone

Uhm you don't need an fan from the SP series. SP120's etc are only meant for static pressure such as radiators and heatsinks. AF series are meant for airflow in the case, they rather blow everything everywhere around if you know what im meaning.

Also, it's not that much needed to use static pressure fans on a heatsink, only a few degree difference.

Most fans have a fixed static speed which can't be adjusted with your motherboard and are just running quiet enough. They can be controlled with a fan controller though. Fans you'll be buying are 99% fixed speed.

I don't know if the 500r has a fan controller but you still have options to use a voltage dropper to reduce the speed of a fan. So don't be afraid of that.

looking into Corsair fans... the AF120s and SP120s. I haven't finalized yet for these, deciding on quiet ones and high performance ones and fan controllers... Got some questions for these, which I will make a post for soon since I decided on case finally. I need to do more research.

I am now torn on what to buy... On one end, my brother tells me that its risky to use any water cooling system... On the other hand, this is cheaper now and it has been out for more than an year and people haven't had any problems with them, except the original fans of it, which can easily be replaced with SP120s...

I wish I could do a vote of it lol. I am just worried about that if at any point, the H100 leaks or the tubing breaks, then my motherboard and my graphics card and other components will get damaged and it will be pricey to replace everything =/...

Do I err on the side of caution and not get it, or take this sweet deal now and hope for the best? I don't know if I can ask NCIX peeps to put extra "protective" thing around the tubing and fluid tank thing so there is an almost non-existent chance of it leaking and damaging components? I am going to call them and ask tomorrow.
Even if I can get a push or a pull setup with it, I can always use it later 3 years down the road... And maybe in a P/P setup. I could re-use it after 3 years, right? Or do I need to buy a new one due to the same liquid sitting in there for 3 years and not performing as well as it should after that long?

If you do get the H100 with the grinding noise, just attach it to a fan controller and set it to maximum speed, that's what fixed mine.

But yes, try and get a newer H100 if you can.

Wait lets be clear here, the H100i has the "grinding" noise caused the fan controller supplying screwed-up voltage the the fans, making people think the fans are responsible (the fans themselves are fine).
The H100 (non-i) has it's "grinding" noise coming from the pump itself and the only solution is an RMA - although this isn't very common. Nothing is wrong with the H100's fan controller.

The H100i problem is drastically more common, existing in virtually every model to some degree.

Yeah that RAM will do fine. But upgrade to 16GB when you need to, it's not worth the higher CL timings to put 16GB in now. Even if you have tons of shit running at the same time, the most you'll see is ~4-5gb RAM usage so grab the 2x4GB CL9 kit.

I will not be going with the H100, unfortunately, anymore. I have decided to get a air cooler, the CM Hyper 212 EVO, since I won't be overclocking to the extreme anyway, maybe up to 4.0GHz initially, and down the line, up to 4.3GHz or 4.4GHz but no more than that.

Fair enough, technically a Hyper212 is enough even for a 4.4ghz OC while running at safe temps.

Originally Posted by Lychee3000

k, I will get the 8 GB RAM instead. It's cheaper anyway overall, and no tall heatsink spreaders.

Good

Originally Posted by Lychee3000

I have decided, for reliability purposes, I will just get the Samsung 830 128GB SSD. It has reliability, and 8 more Gigs =D
Now I gotta do price matching since I have finalized my system, I think (Check OP).

Yay finally :P

Originally Posted by Lychee3000

I need just input on fans but that should not be a problem I think (Check OP under Case Fans).

---------- Post added 2012-11-25 at 02:36 PM ----------

Hmm... I can't decide where exactly the case fans should go. I was thinking of getting LED fans as well but don't know which ones. Mind you, I am putting my computer on top of my new computer desk as well as I will be studying on it, so I need quiet fans but with good performance if possible.
Also, how should my new fans be oriented to have positive pressure (more intake than exhaust) and have good air cooling to keep the case and its part cool. A good balance of everything.

Originally Posted by Lychee3000

Case Fans: -

The AF120s and SP120s. I want the quiet ones for both.
I want to do push/pull with the CM Hyper 212 EVO. Can 2x SP120s Quiet Edition be fine for it? They will push/pulling and exhausting out the back fan.
I also want to get 3x AF120 Quiet Edition Fans for the top 2x fan mounts as exhaust and bottom fan as intake. There's already 2x fans in the front as intake, 1x big fan at the side as intake, 1x fan at the back as exhaust and 1x PSU fan intake at the bottom. That's 5x fans already in the 500R. So 3 more fans are needed at the other fan mounts. That's good, right?

You do realize that you'll be running a total of 8 fans in your system (including the ones on the CPU cooler). This thing will quite literally be the opposite of quiet, especially if you're placing it on your desk, it'll sound like a jet taking off because all the fans will be going at max RPM's. Doesn't matter what fans you buy, running so many together will be loud as hell.

You're also spending a total of $75 on additional fans which is almost pointless. The case already has good airflow with 2x120mm intakes and 1x120mm rear exhaust. Replacing the CM Blademaster which comes with Hyper212 Evo with 2xSP120's will result in tiny drop at best, maybe 2-3c if you're lucky. Is that worth $30, making the actual total price of your cooler $65? As an ex-Hyper212 owner I can tell you the included 120mm CM Blademaster is designed to work very well with the heatsink.

My advice is to stick with the fans which come with the case, and connect them to a fan controller. The Hyper212 fan will go to the CPU_fan pin obviously, but the rest of the ~3 fans should go to a controller if you really value silence. When a computer is idle or doing light work (as it will be most of the time) you don't need the fans spinning at anything higher than the bare minimum. Get a fan controller such as this one:

It allows you to connect 5 fans to it and gives 12v/5v/Off settings. When you're at idle you could safely turn off the front 2 fans, leaving only the rear exhaust and your CPU cooler spinning. It would be so incredibly quiet you probably won't even know whether your PC is turned on lol. When gaming you would flick on all fans to 5v, or full blast at 12v. Neat huh?

Many people swear by fan controllers these days because it gives them so much control over their noisy fans.